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Erin D.

  • 11
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  • 1
  • helpful vote
  • 32
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Cute twist

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-26-24

This time of year, Christmas stories abound. I enjoyed hearing and learning about the Jewish Festival of Lights — Hanukkah — for a change. However, Dov’s accent was distractingly wrong. Definitely NOT New York.

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What every American should know about the Border

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-06-24

Sarah Towle provides a moving and easily understood explanation of the extremely complicated and dysfunctional immigration system in the US. Using first hand accounts gathered from migrants on both sides of the border as well as many non-governmental humanitarian aide organizations and migrant advocates, she personalizes the humanitarian crisis that has developed — in no small part due to US interference in Central and South American politics. I’ve been to the border several times and considered myself to be well-informed on the subject of border policy, but I learned so much more from this book. More Americans need to read it to understand the history and current state of affairs.

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Heartbreakingly and beautifully written

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-16-24

Hearing Javier tell his story in his own words and in his own voice made this poignant story all the more moving for me. My heart pounded inside me as I listened to learn how he fared in each step of his incredible journey and brought me to tears so many times. As someone who has volunteered with asylum seekers both in Texas and across the border in Mexico, I have met many brave "families" like this one. I have seen how they help and support each other and it's a beautiful thing. My wish is that "La Usa" would change our laws to allow good, hardworking people to come here to live and work and contribute to our communities. To those who continue to make the journey north, Dios los bendigas.

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You get what you pay for

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
1 out of 5 stars
Story
1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-28-23

This was a waste of time So unrealistic Maybe try researching the way Court Martials actually work

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If it changes one opinion, it's worth reading

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-12-23

I've been meaning to read this book since it came out. I am a highly educated suburban white woman -- privileged -- who has a heart for the asylum seekers and refugees seeking safety and a better life in our country. In the midst of the massive child separation program of the DJT administration, I felt compelled to go to the border to volunteer. I have returned several times and work with refugee resettlement here at home in NJ and serve on the board of an NGO in Texas that has been assisting asylum seekers since 2018. I have met men, women and children who have gone through some of the traumas described in the book. While the novel is somewhat unrealistic in portraying so many different story lines intersecting each other all on one place, I think she hits on some very common narratives of the real people I met. Rather than "murderers and rapists," I met mothers and fathers, grandparents and aunts and uncles who carried their children and babies for hundreds of miles to arrive with little more than the clothing on their backs. Some of them were farmers whose subsistence farms no longer produced enough to feed their families due to extreme climate change. Some were small business owners who could no longer pay the gangs or cartels the money they demanded; many were trying to get their young boys away before they were required to work for them or their girls before they were forced into relationships with them. I didn't meet and bad hombres -- although I'm not naive enough to think none cross into the US. I met good, caring family people who go just wanted better for themselves and their kids.

I've read a lot of the reviews after finishing the book. And while some of the criticism is justified, let's remember it's a work of fiction, not investigative journalism. It seems to have changed some minds -- or at least OPENED some. My trips to work at the border are for me -- I need to do something tangible about the humanitarian crisis at our doorstep -- which I must say is JUST AS BAD under the current administration as it was under previous administrations! But I also do it so that I can act as witness to the crisis. I share my experiences with anyone who will listen -- including many of my fellow Catholics in a fairly conservative corner of NJ. If I have helped to open their hearts, my time in Texas and in Mexico has been worth it.

I recommend the book as an entree to the issue. I plan to read some of the books suggested by some commenters that may be a bit more realistic.

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The development of the novelist

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-04-23

Honestly, I skipped over the long foreword, eager to get to this novel by one of my favorite authors. But very quickly once I began listening, I went back to try to understand what I was hearing in the novel! So accustomed was I to Ms. Gregory's excellent and very historically accurate fictional accounts of many famous (and infamous) women, I had to try to understand exactly what was going on in this book. Although I found the descriptions of Beatrice's sexual proclivities, particularly her incestuous relationship with her brother, to be disturbing and far more explicit than they needed to be (in my opinion), I go back to the author's frame of mind as she wrote it and understand a bit better, I think. Young, brilliant, mind filled with the details of the hours and hours and hours of research for her PhD, this first novel seems to me to offer an inside view of the creation of the amazing author this young woman became. I prefer her later work, that is true. But this novel offers great insight into the mind of its author as she began her amazing and successful career as an historical fiction writer.

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Predictably amusing

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 02-08-23

The idea of a protagonist who is a professional freeloader could be off putting. But Billy's dedication to his free lifestyle is oddly amusing and almost admirable in a twister sort of way. Who doesn't love a happy ending?

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A visit to Doolin, Co. Clare

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-30-22

It was lovely to hear one of my favorite places in Ireland described in such vivid terms as to evoke an evening at Gus O'Connor's. The O'Brien clan and Ms. O'Mara characters were very well developed and I appreciated the redemption of two of the other female characters as the story proceeded. I'd have liked it even better if it were narrated by a native Irish speaker. The brogues were just a bit off putting.

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Snorting unlimited

Overall
2 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-01-22

One of the most annoying things about this series is the author's repeated use of the word "snorted" to describe -- I can only assume -- a laugh-like sound. Get a thesaurus. I listened to the first three books because they were included and helped me fall asleep. There's no way I would use a credit to listen to the next one in the series. None of the books has any conclusion. They just drop off and pick up as if they were the next chapter. They are not stand alone in any way. The narration is terrible. Such a large cast and none particularly good. I'll have to find something else to put me to sleep.

Oh. And the plot line where they basically blackmail the evil realtor? Is shaming people for choosing to have elective plastic surgery really a strong feminine lead kind of plot?

Do better.

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Good story, rough listening

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-27-22

While I enjoy the author’s storytelling style, I actually chose this book by mistake after sampling it and reading the reviews. I meant to choose another book by Ms. Rimmer but somehow ended up with this one. The reason I was not going to purchase it was the voice of the “Lexie” character, a common criticism in the reviews. I still enjoyed the storyline but would not choose another book narrated by the same person.

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